Monday, May 16, 2016

Duterte bares plan for his new govt

'Quamplurimi et quam aptissimi" (As many as possible of the very best)

Philippine May 16, 2016

From Sunstar


Presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte bared his plan of govt in a ;press con held in Davao City today.   Duterte said that he is not an expert in economics, if he disappointed the MBC, but he is ready to handle the law and order the problems that ;prevent us from achieving our growth and full potential.

In a typical Malcolm  Gladwell turning point broken window passion, he plans:

1 To restore death penalty, by hanging for heinous crimes

2.  To prohibit drunken driving/and or penalize the same, and no more drinking rowdiness beyond 10 pm.  He cites the difficulties of a common suffering family stressed by traffic and lack of sleep commuting, suffering from broken down MRT trains.

3  He will ;prohibit the collection of fees from school children, because he said this is extortion;

4.  He will remove obstructions from roadway.

5. He does not want any govt official to go to his office currying for promotion (all ready hordes are flocking to Davao to precisely do that)  He will make the final decision on who gets the job even with the screening committee

6.  He warns taxi drivers vs not giving any change.  Taxi drivers in MM watch out.

7.  He wants govt officials especially police involved in crimes, like drugs to resign now or else suffer the consequences.  (This is bad news for some political kingpins in my province and nearby whose top dogs are alleged to be involved in crimes.  They get rich and destroy the lives of youth.  They are hypocrites and therefore must die by hanging

8.  He will prohibit the licensing of heavy firearms

9.  No more Lakbay Aral

Duterte is in a way announcing he is the boss, he knows  what he is doingj.  By working on small things around the big problems, he is laying down the foundation for discipline and obedience..  He talks about common small problems that have high impact on many Filipinos (at the risk of being called a micromanager, a just of the city mayor type of leadership)1.   but that is a good start.

He welcomes member of the CPP for cabinet positions in the govt like /DAR, DOLE, DENR.  He plans to free political prisoners (GMA) as part of confidence building.

Some possible cabinet members:   From Rappler - Duterte names possible cabinet members

1.  Presidential Spokesperson - Salvador Medialdea

2.  Executive Secretary - Salvador Panelo

3   Art Tugade (formerly from CDC) for DOTC sec

4  Sonny Dominguez (his campaign manager ) for DOF

5.  Peter Alan Cayetano for DOF or DOJ (but after one year)  Perfecto Yasay could be the OIC

6.  Peter Laurel of Lyceum -  Dep Ed

Dureza will be for peace process. He is not a laude student, but the valedictorians:  Dureza and Sonny Dominguez will be working for him to help him run our country well (good selector of great people)

As an adroit politician, Duterte loves to integrate and get various people working together sometimes with opposing views (hehe to get them on their toes and make them competitive). He will get normal people, NPA, even ROTC  for drug campaign working together. While the Press Con was going on, NP leaders arrived for signing of coalition agreement. The NP heads included former Sen. Manny Villar.




Thursday, March 3, 2016

Leadership at the frontlines - the story of Chris Kyle - the "American Assassin"

'Quamplurimi et quam aptissimi" (As many as possible of the very best)

Rizal Philippines
March 3, 2013

Chris Kyle January 2012.jpg

HBO feature of the week was "The American Assassin" directed by Clint Eastwood.  It is a story about Chris Kyle a Navy Seal, known as "Legend"  Devil of Ramadi and credited with 160 kills as a sniper. It is a true story and based on the book he wrote.  He served four tours in the ME campaign.

As a sniper, he is tasked with saving the lives of other combatants, and to take out other snipers.  He is credited with one of the longest (about 2 km) shot of an opponent.

The movie portrays his conflict with his wife/family as he struggles with his tour of duty to to defend fellow Americans. He saw the value in what he was doing - to protect and save lives of other Marines

It was unfortunate, that one of the soldiers whom he tried to help, a psychotic, killed him and a companion.  The killer Eddie Ray Routh was sentenced to life imprisonment with out parole.  People lined up the street for  200 km to watch his funeral procession

Thus by being good at something you can be a leader


Some question though if Chris was to be considered a hero after knowing the circumstances behind the Iraq war.

But these were the things at the head of Chris:

"A warrior has a job to do," she writes. "It is a noble job. It is a hard job. He takes those moments upon himself so the rest of us will not have to. He looks evil in the eye and stands up to it so we can sleep soundly."


In a 2012 interview with the BBC, Kyle made that point directly.
"Every person I killed I strongly believe that they were bad," he said. "When I do go face God there is going to be lots of things I will have to account for, but killing any of those people is not one of them."




Leadership talk for a an agri venture company (chicken business)

'Quamplurimi et quam aptissimi" (As many as possible of the very best)

Rizal Philippines
March 3, 2016

Last Saturday, I had a talk before a group of employees, sons and daughters of the owners of an agri venture. It was at the initiative of an uncle who heads the company as the President.  The talk covered:  1. duties and responsibilities of board of directors    2.  leadership by the board of directors  and 3. the future of the chicken business in the Philippines

The first part was the legal and business aspect of managing the business.  What should be the role of the board of directors as the highest governing body of the corporation.  At this aspect, I noted that the current board resisted the new roles as being pointed out in the presentation.  Why do all of these things being prescribed, when there is the President.   The President takes the initiative, he directs and executes.  The Board merely watches, as passive observer.  As in other enterprise which this body tried to assist, the enemy is always from within.   There has to be change from within.

The good thing about the presentation, was this writer noted that there are 3 people whom the President can trust and rely upon.  The President said that what we need are not more knowledge but more passion.  I suggested to the President that this talents must be nurtured.

As for the chicken industry he noted that the opportunity is in the household (90% of the total market) so they left the hri market, and went to the wet market. And now he sees that faster turn over could be made in eggs and he plans to increase the number of layers from current l00,000 to 200,000.  Shall he borrow at 4 to 5% vs margins of 10 to 15% on eggs. But his executive gave the answer. She wants to be sure of the market and doubling the number of layers at once may not synch with their ability to sell

The chicken a la carte presentation resonated well with the President.  As a student of DVM, while in Manila, he noticed the same stuff that a lot of hungry citizens scrounge, scavenge for food, and these were mishandled by the food server.  He took steps that they be handled well as food for the hungry and homeless

Friday, February 26, 2016

Leadership inspiration from Alan Turing - featured in the movie Imitation Games

'Quamplurimi et quam aptissimi" (As many as possible of the very best)

Rizal Philippines
February 26, 2016

                                            Enigma Encryption machine
Alan Turings greatest triumph

I watched the movie "Imitation Game" at HBO last night.  It was a story about Alan Turing, and a group of cryptographers to decode the German crypt code especially the enigma which they thought was unbreakable.    It took a while and his superiors at British Intelligence was furious for not having decoded a single message, and having spent a hundred thousand pounds (a great sum of money) on the machine known as bombe. When they did, they could have averted a UBoat attack and saved hundreds of lives (including that of a colleagues brother) but Alan did not allow that.  Why - the Germans would  conclude that the enigma code has been broken and would change it.  Alan there is a difference between what is right and what is logical.  What is logical is to have statistically accepted number of hits and misses so that the Germans would not suspect that they have been found out. Truly brilliant.

The movie got 8 Oscar nominations

It was remarked on the movie that Alan discovery was prelude to the modern day computer.  At the movie, they focused on the hardware.  Later, postwar, Alan in his dissertation proposed software -  programming. It was said, Von Nuemann though to be the father of computers, learned from Alan

While Turing was depressed as he was about to be prosecuted as homosexual (things have changed a lot) he was reassured by a former fiancee that many cities and many other things still exist because of Alan.   Leaders are responsible for many things. (like the computer's coming to be)



Image result for imitation games movie





Monday, January 25, 2016

China on schedule towards world dominance?

'Quamplurimi et quam aptissimi" (As many as possible of the very best)

Rizal Philippines
January 25, 2016

                                       China Pres Xi with African leaders


                                                     From USC China Institute

China's leadership may be on its time schedule to achieve the China dream being espoused by its President Xi Jin Ping   The China dream covers united, strong China whose citizens are prosperous. It means world dominance in trade, economics and even military hardware. (A former student in ADB said China would reclaim its rightful place in the World History (he was connected at ADB then, China is a shareholder at ADB.

What are the signs that China is pursuing world dominance.

1.  Xi visited South Africa to strengthen ties with African leaders. China has all ready a strong presence in Africa.

2. Recent visit to the Middle East. Here Xi promised loans and other financial assistance. The US influence in the region is declining -  thanks to pacifist current US leadership.  All ready US is rubbing the KSA leaders over its handling of the Iran deal (led by Shiite)  KSA is dominated by Sunnis

3.  Build up of its military (China would build additional aircraft carrier.  Did you see its display of military hardware in the Beijing anniversary of its victory over Japan?

4. It establishment, albeit illegal (from our point of view) of disputed territories in West Philippine Sea. China would be needing this to have strong global presence (military) in the region to control the shipping lanes and possibly the air space and the rich fuel resources  that the territory contains.

5.  The establishment of AIIB  would seem to challenge the US financial system and dominance of the dollar. China has the biggest currency reserve of $3 trillion, and many observers are saying that China and Russia are orchestrating moves to remove the dominace of the dollar as currency for international trade.  Yuan would be next?




Call that bullying or Chinese imperialism?

But one thing for sure, China has got balls now and they know it and using their might and resources to the hilt.

But the Western countries did just that when they were strong economically and militarily.  China is aware that it is the second (some say the biggest) world economy has biggest cash reserve.  And Xi has made forays all over the world to extend its influence (the latest visit to Africa and ME countries) Who can stop Xi/China?